Splatndid Eve
by Typerim
Summary: Chris invites his friend for squidmas, but his grandfather cannot handle it. He also realizes that he is most likely fooling himself the most when he continuously tells his family they are wrong to call the guest his girlfriend. (This is a single chapter story)


"Hey Chris, what are you up to?"

"Mom! I told you to knock before march into my room."

"And I told you to shut doors behind your tentacles young man."

Chris let out a sigh and turned around in his desk chair.

"If you want to know, I am making a card."

"For the holidays?"

"No, for blackmailing… Of course it's for squidmas."

"And who are you sending it to? That girl you have been playing with?"

Chris' head became even more red then his moms tentacles. He looked down at the floor, full of shame.

"I TOLD you, I just play turf with her, nothing more."

"Then why are you sending her, out of all squids, a card?"

"She doesn't have any family to go to." He almost whispered, as he couldn't bear the thought of anyone not having someone to be with this evening.

"The poor thing… Why don't you invite her over?"

"You know tha… that is actually a good idea." Chris picked the piece of paper from his desk and threw it in a small trash bin next to the desk.

"We were going to turf this afternoon, I'll ask if she's interested." He stood up and walked over to his bed, where he had already put his brush and inktank. He put the tank on his back, looked at his phone and lifted his inkbrush.

"I'm late." He explained to his mother as he raced by. "Should have been there by now."

He slid down the stairs, not even hearing his mum call out that we was supposed to walk down them instead, and almost flew out of the front door. He was of to the square at the center of the city, of to practice his favorite sport: Turf War.

* * *

When Chris arrived at the square, it was jam packed with squids. Most, if not all of them were wearing squidmas themed clothing, from sweaters to shirts depicting a decorated tree, everyone seemed to be in the mood for the holidays.

It didn't take long for Chris to find who he was looking for, or rather, was found by who he was looking for.

"Hi Chris, there you are." A sweet, high pitch voice from behind him said.

He quickly turned around to see an octoling, just a bit taller then him, wearing a basic tee, yellow sneakers and a bucket hat, that he had lent to her ages ago. She wielded a roller and her full inktank indicated that she was ready to go.

"ow… H-hi Marly." He stammered. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting."

"No, no need to worry. Now that we are ready, let us go have some fun."

As they moved over to the tower, Chris saw groups of squids all happily talking to each other. He thought that now would be the best time to ask, although he had to be subtle.

"You know about this evening right?"

"Isn't that when the sun goes down and the day makes way for the night?"

It appeared to him that he might had to be more direct. It still amazed Chris how ignorant she was.

"No… I mean… 'This' evening."

"I don't think I am able to follow what you are saying."

"ye know… squidmas?" Chris pointed out, surprised that she hadn't heard of it. He then realized that there was no-one else to tell her, and felt sorry. He stopped at the foot of the tower, next to the entrance.

"Do you have anything this evening?" He asked whilst trying, and failing, to sounds as casual as possible.

"I do not yet have planes for today after the matches that we were intending on playing now."

"Would you like to visit my home?" Chris would have rather sunk into enemy ink then ask something like this, but he knew his mother would make sure that we would regret not doing so if he even dared showing up back home at all.

"Is there any reason that you want me to meet up at your house tonight?" Marly asked with a childish innocence that made it clear to Chris that she hadn't caught on.

"None in particular." A flat out lie. "But try to dress up the same as the others have done." He pointed at a group of cephalopods, all dressed in sweaters, that came walking by.

"I do believe that I have one of such pieces of apparel." She said after only taking a quick glance at the group. "Shall we start what we had set out to do?"

"Sure, let's go."

* * *

"Chrissy dear, you did invite the girl right?" His mom asked him while she was busy cooking inside a kitchen that looked like all the cupboards had vomited at once.

"Yes mom, I did." He whined.

"Don't you talk like that, this is supposed to be a happy happening, not some sort of funeral."

"When will dad be home?"

"He should be here any sec..." She was interrupted by the doorbell. "Speak of the devil. Can you take the door?"

"Bu..."

"Now Chris!"

He let out a sigh, stood up and walked over to the door. He knew his dad was off to pick up his grandparents from the station. His grandfather wasn't what he used to be, or at least, he always told stories about serving during the Great Turf War. Chris had no idea if he had actually done what he had told him, but he was sure good at telling stories, even though he only told a few over and over. He just couldn't walk as well as he used to.

To his surprise, it wasn't his dad at the door. It was Marly. She was dressed exactly the same as one of the squids he had pointed at.

"Hello Chris. Do you think that this clothing will suffice?"

"Is that your girlfriend?" His mom yelled from the kitchen. "Please, let her take a seat. And CLOSE the DOOR behind you."

Chris gestured Marly to enter and closed the door behind her. On their way to the living room, Chris' mother intercepted them. She raised her hand to shake Marly's. She just looked at it.

"Take her hand and shake it." Chris whispered to her, and she listened, sort of. She grabbed Chis' mothers right hand with her left and shook it like she was about to trow a fizzy bomb.

"The name's Nathasia my dear." Chris' mothers face showed a sincere smile. "You are quite something, he's lucky to have you."

"mom"

"Come now dear, you may let go."

"I am sorry, I am not used to the shaking of hands." Marly excused herself. "It is a pleasure to be meeting you."

"Chris, get your girlfriend a drink, and show her her chair."

"But she isn..."

"NOW"

"yes." His mom seemed to have a knack of not listening when it was needed most according to Chris.

He showed Marly to the dinner table. It had already been set up, plates, cutlery and glasses all lay in front of the chairs, ready to receive the guests and family.

"You'll sit here." He pointed at a chair at the edge of the table. "I've been placed next to you." He almost whispered. Even though it were only the two of them in the room, he felt ashamed.

"Did you invite me, because you wanted me to attend your dinner?" It was clear that she had no idea about how he felt.

"Y-yes."

"Might I ask you a question about your house?"

"you… may?"

"Why do you have a small tree in the corner of this room? Is it some sort of house plant?"

"That… That's our squidmas tree."

"What type of tree is that? Does it always come with all those adornments?"

"it isn… no it doesn't."

"Then why did you put all these shiny objects inside of this tree?"

Chris just gave Marly a blank look. He genuinely had no idea why they even had a squidmas tree. All he knew was that it was just a part of squidmas, just like the family dinner.

"I dunno"

"It does look nice"

"O yea?"

"I like the little light on top that is shaped like a zapfish."

"We have put that light on top of every tree I can remember."

They both now just looked at the tree. Chris thought nothing of it normally, but this just might have been the tree's purpose. Something the family carried with them, to remind them of all previous years.

His mom came out of the kitchen with a large, steaming pot. She put it on the table and went back to fetch some more, but not before giving Chris a look that never failed to convey a clear treat.

"I almost forgot, you want a drink?"

"No, but thank you for your offer."

Nathasia came back out of the kitchen, this time with a platter that had come fresh out of the oven. The doorbell rang.

"Please, take a seat." Nathasia said to Marly. "And you go open the door." She added with a voice so different, it almost sounded like two different squids.

Chris opened the front door, and this time it was Chris' father, accompanied by his parents.

Chis' grandma stormed in and embraced him. "Look at how much you have grown, just look at you, fully formed and well fed." His dad's face was a mingling of a proud and an ashamed expression, while his grandfather had his regular surly face expression.

The four went over to the living room, and then joined Marly at the table. Chris sat next to her, with on his right his grandmother. In front of her sat Chris' grandpa, with on his right his son. The last chair was soon to be filled by the mother, who had just returned from the kitchen again, this time with a large bowl of crispy looking seaweed salad.

Nathasia poked Chris' dad in his leg with her foot. "C'mon Bob, just welcome them." She whispered to him.

Bob slowly stood up, looked at everyone, and said: "Welcome, thank you for making it here today, now let us eat." with a voice that clearly portrayed his thoughts about the speech he had to give just now. He sat down again.

Chris' father shifted his attention from his wife to Marly, who had silently sat on the chair since he had arrived.

"The name's Bob" He said with a genuine smile. "And you are Chris' girlfriend I presume?"

"She's not my..." Chris tried to protest.

"You have a girlfriend?" His grandmother chimed in. "How wonderful, the name's Margret. And that man is Chris' grandfather, John. Don't try to talk to him when he's eating. He's…, see for yourself." She ended that with clear distaste in her voice, and rightfully so. John had already picked one of the crunchsticks from the plate and was enjoying his first bite, all while gazing into some unseen distance.

"The food just takes him away" Margret grinned, trying to hide her dislike of her husbands behavior.

There followed a silence, only interrupted by John munching on his food. Marly just stared at Chris' family, and they stared back at her. Chris just stared up at the sealing, wondering why he had ever though that this was a good idea.

A quarter of silence had past. All had now begun eating, John still in his own world with Margret watching him, Chris' dad still feeling ashamed of his dad, Chris' mother ashamed because of the speech her husband had just given, Marly who was just completely focused on expertly cutting up the seaweed into even chunks, and Chris himself, wondering if he would ever get the chance to tell his family that Marly was no more then a friend. He did have to remind himself constantly that they weren't in any sort of relationship, which made him doubt himself more than he would have liked.

"Marvelous as always Nathasia." Chris' grandfather said after swallowing the last of what was on his plate. "You never fail to amaze this old timer."

"To all of y..." He looked around, and stopped when he saw Marly at the corner of the table.

What happened next was very hard to follow. It at least ended with John stretched out over the table, holding his hands were Marly's neck would have been, while the octoling in question had morphed and jumped onto Chris' lap. He bent over as his grandfather, who was now held back by Bob and Margret, tried to reach for the octoling.

"None can survive" John muttered, while his old body did the best it could to fight his son and wife.

Chris had no idea if he could feel Marly shaking on his lap, or if he was shaking. He had never seen his grandpa like this. He knew that he seemed troubled sometimes, but he never became violent.

"John, please sit down." Margret begged him.

"Dad, please" Bob assisted, as he slowly pulled the old squid back to his chair, where he sat down and buried his head into his hands.

"It's all my fault, Carmen. I couldn't do it. I can't do it." He muttered.

Chris' head slowly turned red. "Marly, please, for the love of the great zapfish get back on your chair." He wispered to the octopus that still lay shacking on his legs.

Marly transformed back, still sitting on Chris' lap, which made his face get even further in the red spectrum. Her face was quite the opposite, it was as white as a sheet.

John stood up and stormed to the other side of the living room, to the chair that stood furthest away form the dining table. Marly in the meantime sat back on her own chair and continued eating, but now continuously looked over to Chris' grandfather. They all continued eating in silence.

"Who is Carmen?" Chris asked his grandma.

"An old friend of his." She answered. "He lost him, and blames himself for it."

"He is old enough to know." She added after Nathasia give her a look of displeasure.

"Might this Carmen by any chance be Commander Carmen, Leader of platoon green 4?" Marly asked her.

"How do you know about him?" Margret asked surprised.

"It is one of the most told stories of victories during the great turf war. The army not only took the life of most of the soldiers, but also eliminated the commander of the green unit. His second in command was one of the few to escape the grasps of the octarian army." Marly seemed to tell it as if reading a history book.

Chris put down his cutlery, and stood up. He went over to his grandfather.

"Grandpa?" he softly asked him.

"Mmmm…. What is it, my boy?"

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Do you think that was because of you that he d-died?" It took Chris a lot of courage to get the last word out of his mouth.

"Please, just get her away."

"Who?"

"her" he pointed at marly.

"Why?"

"Those tentacles…"

"What is it with them?"

"memories"

"Of him?"

John just nodded. At the table, the rest just sat in silence, watching and listening to the old squid and his grandson.

"Can you tell me about him?"

"y-yes"

"Who was he?"

"My friend"

"You were close, weren't you?"

"yes"

"What happened?"

Chris' grandfather stayed silent, he was clearly holding himself back. Meanwhile, Nathasia had collected all the plates and cutlery and stood up to bring them back to the kitchen while Bob took the empty pot, plate and bowl. Marly and Margret still sat at the table, watching the two in the living room.

The silence was broken when Chris' parents came back from the kitchen with a large bowl that held an enormous amount of pudding. They were both clearly fully concentrating on the bowl that took their combined strength to keep upright.

"Come on dad, the pudding's your favorite." Bob tried to persuade him back to the table.

"I'll just have a bowl here." John whispered.

"What did you say?"

"Grandpa said he wants to have a bowl here." Chris answered for him.

"John, don't ..." Margret stopped as she only now noticed that Marly held her right hand raised, as a little squid at school would do if they wanted to ask the teacher a question. "What is it, dear?"

"Why do you have such an impractical sized bowl for the dish?" She asked with a generous curiosity.

"We just make a single batch that lasts us all the way to spring." Bob explained as Nathasia came back with some small bowls and spoons. "If you want, we could let you take some home in a sealed jar."

"That is very kind of you sir." Marly picked up one of the bowls and said: "I will give this to Chris' grandfather." She stood up.

"She is so polite." Chris' mother noted. "you're good at picking a girlfriend Chris."

"She isn't..." Chris stopped and turned back to face the living room again. He jumped to turn around and was just to late to pull Marly away from John, who had grabbed her neck after she had put down the his pudding.

"You did this" He said with through his teeth, which he had pressed together out of sheer anger. Marly was trying her best to break free from his grasp, but couldn't. She started to gasp for air.

Chris almost jumped on them and grabbed John's arms, Bob soon followed and together they got him to let her go. She fell on her knees and gasped for air, her eyes staring at the old squid, who now let himself be pushed back into the chair he had been sitting in.

"my fault… my fault… my fault..." He kept repeating it over and over.

Chris, his dad, and Marly, who had now hidden herself behind Chris, took a seat on the sofa next to John.

"Dad, just tell us, what is it that has you do this?" Bob started the conversation.

"I couldn't save him, I wasn't there for him, I..."

"Dad, please don't talk like that. We all miss people that we liked. That is just how it goes."

The rest was now listening to Chris' father with the utmost attention.

"I should have been..."

"No dad, you don't get it. He is gone, there is nothing you can do to change that. We all have people that we lost."

A tear formed in John's eye, he snorted his nose.

"Today is not about who we lost, it is about who we haven't. So please enjoy the time with us that you have left." Bob was now also in tears.

After a few seconds of earth shattering silence, Chris' mom started clapping. "Well spoken Bob. I told you that a speech wouldn't be that hard."

In the blink of an eye, John stood up and threw himself at Marly and Chris. He hugged them. "I am so sorry for what I did." He sobbed.

Chris put a hand around him and tried to comfort his grandfather. "It is totally reasonable to be unreasonable because of the grief caused by losing someone you love." Marly told him.

Chris' dad stood up and tapped his father on his shoulder. "Shall we eat the pudding now?"

As quickly as John at stood up to hug the two, so quick was he to sit at the dinner table, ready to annihilate any pudding that he would be served.

"Your grandfather is a big fan of your mothers cooking, is he not?" Marly asked Chris.

He stood up. "Yea he is. Lets get some ourselves, before he eats it all." He chuckled. The longer he thought about it. The more he doubted that they indeed weren't a couple. He liked her more than anyone else. Maybe he was just fooling himself?

Bob, John, and Margret stood on the doorstep, and with a last few words of goodbye, they were of to the train station.

"I presume that it is also time for me to leave."

"It was a pleasure having you here, dear. You're welcome anytime."

Marly went out. Nathasia stood waiving next to Chris, who's head had reached a nice tone of bright red again. She waved back, smiled, and started to walk down the street.

"Mom?" Chris whispered.

"Yes?"

"Could Marly stay for the night?"

"Of course she could."

Chris ran after her, and soon caught up.

"Wait!" He yelled. She came to a stop and Chris stopped next to her.

"Do you… want to… stay for… the night?" He wheezed.

"Of course I would." She replied. "You know you are my favorite squid."

It was hard to tell if Chris' head was red because of him running or embarrassment.

"Will you hold my hand?" He asked.

"If that is what you want." She giggled and grabbed his hand, that had been shaking since he got there. The shaking stopped as soon as she grabbed them.

Together they walked back down the street to Chris' home, the dark streets illuminated by the squidmas decoration form the houses around them. As they reached his house, it had started to snow. They both looked outside from the living room.

"Today has been a peculiar day, has it not?"

"Yea it has. Can't wait for squidmas next year."

"Wait… You do this every year?"


End file.
